MODEST HOUSE FOR SPLENDID SPLINTER
TED WILLIAMS’ HOME

Before he won two MVP awards, before he collected six batting titles, before he was practically escorted into the Hall of Fame as the best natural hitter in baseball history, Ted Williams lived in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood.

The site of his formative years — 4121 Utah St. — was, and still is, a modest one-story bungalow. Not much to see, really.

North Park Community Park is two blocks away. Williams played ball there. Today the park’s baseball field is named in his honor.

Hoover High is a quick jaunt down El Cajon Boulevard. The field at the school is also named in Williams’ honor — no surprise — although he never played there. The field had not been built. Baseball games were played on the football field in Williams’ day.

Five miles south of 4121 Utah is where Lane Field used to sit. There, Williams played for the San Diego Padres of the old Pacific Coast League. A plaque in the ground commemorates the long-departed ballpark.

No such marker, not even a sign, adorns Williams’ boyhood home, into which he first moved in 1924.

But the house is full of memories. In 1992 Williams, in town for MLB’s All-Star Game, stopped by for a visit.

As he left, he turned to Terry Higgins, then the owner of the house, and said, “Whatever you do, don’t get famous. It’s a pain in the neck.”